A message to humanity: We have created this world as we know it ourselves. And we can change it too, if we find the will within ourselves

Imagine it is the year 2526. Future historians – humans, or perhaps something in between – are leafing through records of our time. What do you think they will write about us?

We have access to more information than any other civilisation in human history. And we use it primarily to argue with strangers on small glowing rectangles, controlled by wealthy men who have figured out how to monetise human misery, vanity and emotional instability.

We have scientific data that no generation before us has ever had. And we use it to concoct conspiracy theories and deny climate change.

We have built an economic system that thrives on oil spills, wars, cancer, addiction and private prisons, but takes no account of the health of people or the planet. We invented social media, a tool capable of connecting all of humanity, and it promptly began to track us, radicalise us and destroy our children’s attention spans.

And then – and this is the most striking part – we, as the only species on Earth, have actively debated whether to maintain the conditions necessary for our own survival at all. Whether we should protect the environment or not. We really are a very strange species…

Systems we have devised ourselves

Here is the key point we must realise: none of this is inevitable. Economics, law, politics – these are not ultimate laws of nature. Gravity applies to everyone without exception. Tax loopholes, however, do not. Human systems are human creations, very often structured to benefit a small, select group. They are rules we have devised and which we adhere to with devotion, as if no other option existed. A more humane option.

And that is precisely why the destruction of nature and human suffering persist. Not because there are no alternatives, but because we have allowed the plundering of the environment and human suffering to remain profitable, socially tolerated and politically acceptable.

The world does not have to work this way. It is only that we have made it so. But that does not mean we cannot change it.

Five lessons from nature

But if we are to set about rebuilding the world, perhaps we should not look for inspiration solely within ourselves. For we have proven time and again that, as humans, we are not very good at looking after one another or the planet. And that when humans are in charge, it always leads to problems, exploitation, wars, intolerance, struggles over resources, land, and so on.

Nature has something to teach us

Penguins: Emperor penguins survive Antarctic winters by huddling together in a tight cluster, and every thirty to sixty seconds the whole group shifts: those on the edge move into the warmth of the centre. No penguin freezes to death alone on the outside. Survival depends on sharing the burden so that no one has to bear it alone.

Ravens: Ravens observe the behaviour of others and remember who is reliable and who is not. Individuals who cheat or cause harm are excluded from future interactions or have their access to opportunities restricted. In crow society, consistently dishonest individuals are not promoted socially. And they certainly aren’t elected president.

Bees: When bees need a new home, hundreds of scout bees fly out and, upon their return, each performs a ‘dance’ for the others – thereby sharing information about a potential newly discovered site. After several days of collective debate, the swarm agrees on the best option. Healthy democracies depend on the transparent sharing of information and rewarding the best available evidence. There is no billionaire bee controlling the information.

Forests: No single tree can monopolise resources indefinitely without weakening the entire ecosystem. Trees share water and nutrients through underground networks, communicate and send warning signals to one another. When one species becomes too dominant, the ecosystem becomes more fragile. There is no oligarchy in the forest. In the forest, there are no billionaire trees that dominate all the others just to line their own pockets.

Elephants: African elephants live in a matriarchal society, where the oldest and most experienced female leads the herd. Not through force, but through wisdom and empathy. She remembers water sources, dangers and past droughts. Elephants collectively care for the young, the injured and the elderly. Success lies not in dominance, but in empathy and protecting others. Empathy is the main driving force for the entire herd among elephants.

The mask has fallen

Recent years have revealed what has become of our systems. The mask has been torn away. We see decay. We see what happens when power operates without restraint or any checks and balances, without accountability and without conscience.

Those who concentrate power today – who protect perpetrators, kill children, bomb hospitals, cut down forests and profit from wars – are symptoms of these systems. Systems that we have helped to create. Systems that we constantly help to replicate and whose inhumane consequences we continue to turn a blind eye to.

Too many of us have become complacent. We have watched as freedoms elsewhere in the world are slowly eroded. We have seen the truth distorted. We have watched as the right and the will to protest have weakened, and as wealth, information and power have become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. All the while, we have told ourselves the most dangerous sentence in the world: at least it doesn’t affect me.

Too many of us live through screens, whilst the real world – the one that holds our bodies, forests, rivers and air together – is becoming something we merely pass through, rather than a place where we belong. And in the process, we have lost a part of ourselves: courage, empathy, and a sense of belonging to nature and our community.

You are not a spectator. You are a participant in the process

We have forgotten something very simple: this world is shared. No species survives alone. A species’ greatest strength is not singularity, dominance or separation. It is diversity and the ability to cooperate.

People of courage – scientists, activists, educators, journalists, community organisers – fight every day and refuse to accept that this is the way it has to be. They stand on the front line and ask: where is everyone else? Have we really become so complacent that, apart from our own comfort, we don’t care about anything else?

We need to be like penguins – we won’t leave anyone out in the cold.

We need to be like ravens – we don’t reward bad behaviour.

We need to be like bees – we build collective intelligence.

We need to be like forests – we keep power in balance.

We need to be like elephants – we let empathy guide us.

The future is not shaped solely by grand gestures. It is shaped by small moments, the little choices we make every day. The struggles we refuse to give up on. The status quo we refuse to accept. The moments when we stand up for one another. When we choose empathy over apathy, kindness over cruelty, courage over silence.

The world does not have to be the way it is. Nature did not create it. We created it. We tolerate it. We condone it. We help it to survive.

And now we must rebuild it.

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Natalie Kyriacou is an environmentalist, author of the bestselling book *Nature’s Last Dance* and founder of the organisation My Green World.